Food roads lead to R.I.

It is said that all roads lead to Rhode Island. This is due in large measure to the ubiquitous “Rhode Island moment,” where one is far from home and runs into a fellow Ocean Stater.

So it goes with Rhode Island food as well. Recently, the stuffie – the appetizer that sometimes becomes a full meal of bread stuffing with chopped quahog clams, Portuguese chourico sausage, garlic, paprika and parsley flakes baked in a quahog shell – was included in a collection of unique regional American dishes.

In mid-October, celebrated author and journalist John Mariani was the special guest chef at a dinner party and book signing event at the new Capo restaurant in South Boston. Mariani must have been a frequent visitor to Rhode Island, as evidenced by his menu.

His first course of five was grilled pizza Al Forno style, along with clams casino. As Mariani explained in a phone interview the day of his dinner party, it was indeed a tribute to the legendary Providence restaurant. His book, “How Italian Food Conquered the World,” discusses how grilled pizza – invented in Rhode Island by Johanne Killeen and the late George Germon – fits into the Italian food culture. “It is not that there is a direct connection of grilled pizza to the Italian scene – there is not,” he said. “George and Johanne had spent a considerable amount of time traveling through Italy. George had experienced the rustic wood-fire cooking style that was beginning to emerge in the villages and towns and come to the cities and resorts. When they came back to the States, they wanted to open a restaurant; they did, up on Steeple Street in Providence and began serving this hand-formed, rustic pizza topped with all kinds of wonderful things and cooked on the grill, which had been unheard of up to that time.” The antipasto featured polenta with burrata – the wildly popular mozzarella and cream with stracciatella – and caviar. The pasta was egg-filled ravioli with truffles. The main course was steak – Bistecca alla Fiorentina, followed by the Contorni course, which has become the salad course after the entrée at multicourse Italian feasts. On this night, it was delicata squash, hazelnuts and honey with charred broccolini. Then came the Dolce and the second Rhode Island homage – fried zeppole. I asked Mariani where the Rhode Island tradition of eating the flash-fried puff pastries filled with delicious custard only on St. Joseph’s Day came from. He explained it was all about the festival celebrating the day. “These treats were street food. They were served out on the sidewalk during the parade or the street fair at all different times of the year [in the old country] because they were among the few dishes, especially sweets, that could be cooked outside. You can’t make a tiramisu on the street!” Mariani cooked alongside Capo’s executive chef Tony Susi, who recently opened Capo Restaurant as a rustic, neighborhood Italian place. The dinner may have been in Southie, but the food road led to Rhode Island. •

- Advertisement -

Bruce Newbury’s Dining Out radio show is heard on 1540 WADK-AM, wadk.com and the TuneIn mobile application. He can be reached by email bruce@brucenewbury.com.

No posts to display